Under present technology it is difficult to produce multiple page mailing documents utilizing self-mailer type constructions in which sheets have adhesive applied to them in a particular manner, and then are folded or otherwise assembled to produce a mailer. Under most circumstances, multiple page mailing documents must be placed into an envelope, or distinctly different (in size and configuration) inserts provided.
According to the present invention, a mailer type business form is provided which can provide a multiple page mailing document, in fact one that opens up like a book. The mailer according to the present invention is preferably produced utilizing pressure sensitive adhesive, such as that marketed by Toppan-Moore with the trade designation TM-124, which is a styrene-natural rubber copolymer. The equipment utilized to seal the mailer preferably comprises that marketed by Moore Business Forms, Inc. of Lake Forest, Illinois as the Moore SPEEDISEALER.RTM. pressure sealing assembly.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of forming a multi page mailer type business form having a plurality of parts, including top, bottom, and at least one middle, sheets is provided. Each sheet has top and bottom faces, a quadrate shape with four edges, and perimeter edges adjacent the edges. The method comprises the following steps: (a) Applying a first adhesive pattern to the top sheet bottom face perimeter areas. (b) Applying a second adhesive pattern to the bottom sheet top face perimeter areas. (c) Applying a third adhesive pattern to the middle sheet top face perimeter areas, and a fourth adhesive pattern to the middle sheet bottom face perimeter areas. (d) Printing variable information on the top, bottom, and middle sheets, including machine readable identification information which is common to top, bottom, and middle sheets that are to be assembled into a final multi page mailer. (e) Collating and accumulating a set containing a top, bottom, and middle sheet. (f) Verifying that the collated and accumulated set contains matching sheets by scanning the identification information on sheets of that collated set. And, (g) effecting sealing of the perimeter adhesive patterns of the sheets of the collated set so that a multi page mailer type business form is produced.
Step (b) is preferably practiced so that the first and second patterns are disposed so that they do not align with each other when a top sheet bottom face is stacked on the top of a bottom sheet top face, and step (c) is practiced so that the third and fourth adhesive patterns do not align with each other when a stack of middle sheets is formed.
The further steps (h) and (i) are preferably practiced of providing the top and bottom sheets in a stack, alternating top and bottom sheets, and providing the middle sheets in a stack. Then step (d) is practiced by taking sheets from the stack of top and bottom sheets and a separate stack of middle sheets. The printing step is preferably practiced by utilizing a laser printer with main and auxiliary input trays with a stack of top and bottom sheets in the main tray and a stack of middle sheets in the auxiliary tray.
Just prior to step (d), lines of weakness are provided adjacent three edges of the top, bottom and middle sheets, the lines of weakness located inside the perimeter areas, and steps (e)-(g) are practiced so that the multi page mailer type business form produced has the top and bottom sheets permanently sealed together along one edge thereof with the other three edges being freeable by detaching the sheets along the lines of weakness, to provide a book type construction.
Steps (a)-(d) may be practiced with the sheets in continuous form, with the further step of slitting the form at the top, bottom and two middle sheets after step (d).
The adhesive is applied to the perimeter areas in such a way that at least some of the perimeter areas have two strips that are spaced from each other in the width dimension of the perimeter area, but so that one of the adhesive strips is provided at essentially every point along the length of the perimeter areas.
According to another aspect of the present invention a multi page mailer type business form is provided. The mailer form comprises the following elements: A top quadrate sheet having top and bottom faces with first through fourth edges, with perimeter areas adjacent the first through fourth edges. A first pattern of adhesive provided on the top sheet bottom face in the perimeter areas adjacent the first through fourth edges. A bottom quadrate sheet having top and bottom faces with first through fourth edges, with perimeter areas adjacent the first through fourth edges. A second pattern of adhesive provided on the bottom sheet top face in the perimeter areas adjacent the first through fourth edges, the second pattern being non-aligned with the first pattern so that if the top and bottom sheets are stacked the adhesive patterns do not engage each other. A middle quadrate sheet having top and bottom faces with first through fourth edges, with perimeter areas adjacent the first through fourth edges. Third and fourth patterns of adhesive applied to the middle sheet top and bottom faces respectively in the perimeter areas adjacent the first through fourth edges, at least part of the third and fourth patterns being non-aligned so that if a number of middle sheets are stacked one atop the other those adhesive patterns do not engage each other. And, lines of weakness disposed parallel to at least the second through fourth edges, inside of the perimeter areas in each of the top, bottom, and middle sheets, the lines of weakness of each sheet being aligned with the lines of weakness of the other sheets. The adhesive is preferably pressure sensitive adhesive. Where the form consists of the top, bottom and one middle sheet, the third adhesive pattern is aligned with the first adhesive pattern, and the fourth with the second, to facilitate proper sealing, and there is no line of weakness adjacent the first edge. In each perimeter area of each of the sheets the adhesive pattern comprises first and second strips, the strips spaced from each other in the width-wise dimension of the perimeter area, but the strips together extending substantially the entire length of the perimeter area.
The invention also relates to a multi page mailer type business form which comprises the following elements: A top quadrate sheet having top and bottom faces with first through fourth edges, with perimeter areas adjacent the first through fourth edges. A bottom quadrate sheet having top and bottom faces with first through fourth edges, with perimeter areas adjacent said first through fourth edges. A middle quadrate sheet having top and bottom faces with first through fourth edges, with perimeter areas adjacent said first through fourth edges. Pressure sensitive adhesive strips disposed in at least some of the perimeter areas of each of the sheets, the strips being less than one-half the width of the perimeter area in which it is disposed, and being off-center of the perimeter area and parallel to the edge of the sheet with which the perimeter area is associated. And, lines of weakness disposed parallel at least to the second through fourth edges, inside of the perimeter areas in each of the top, bottom, and middle sheets, the lines of weakness of each sheet being aligned with the lines of weakness of the other sheets. Some of the perimeter area adhesive strips are located closer to their associated lines of weakness than their associated edges, and vice-versa.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for effectively producing multiple page mailing documents of a self-mailer type configuration. This and other objects will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.